Local filmmakers' documentary is transformed into Broadway's 'War Paint'

Friday

Jun 9, 2017 at 11:33 AMJun 9, 2017 at 2:40 PM

By R. Scott Reedy, Correspondent

Filmmakers Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman readily admit that they never expected their 2007 PBS documentary “The Powder & the Glory,” about trailblazing makeup moguls Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, would be turned into a hit Broadway musical.

But that’s just what happened with “War Paint,” the new musical starring two-time Tony Award winners Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersole, now at New York’s Nederlander Theatre.

“The show had an out-of-town run in Chicago last summer and we were basically dumbfounded. It was the next part of the dream and it felt surreal,” explained Reisman by conference call from his home on Martha’s Vineyard recently. “We sat back and enjoyed it as if it were a gift. No one does a documentary saying, ‘I can’t wait to see the Broadway musical.’”

Grossman, who first collaborated with fellow Brandeis University alumnus Reisman on a 1998 film marking the Waltham school’s 50th anniversary, was pleased to be with him and 40 of their family and friends for that Goodman Theatre premiere production.

“It was hard to believe it was really happening and I was in tears by the end. The tears were of disbelief. All along, I had been thinking it would probably fall apart along the way,” said Grossman on the call with Reisman from her home in Brookline.

“And then out came Patti Lupone, and Helena Rubinstein was resurrected. I was gob-smacked. And Christine Ebersole was also great as Elizabeth Arden. They’re both brilliant. And the music is exquisitely done and just gorgeous.”

Former South Natick resident and longtime journalist Reisman first suggested the idea to Grossman for a documentary about the competing business owners who moved makeup, which had been worn primarily by prostitutes, to mainstream America, creating their eponymous cosmetics empires in the process.

He and his wife and were visiting New York in 2003 when they ducked out of the rain into the New York Historical Society for an exhibit of works by cartoonist and satirist Jules Feiffer. Also on exhibit there was ‘Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business,’ which included Rubinstein and Arden.

“They were two incredible, pioneering individuals. Without them there wouldn’t be a cosmetics industry. And in their 50-year rivalry, they never actually met each other,” said Reisman, who is married to former television consumer reporter Paula Lyons.

“Rubinstein and Arden were both masterful at marketing their products. They were the first people to put cosmetics into department stores. I have strong memories of the name Helena Rubinstein in the 1950s. My mother may have worn some of her products, but otherwise I knew little about either woman before Arnie told me what he learned from the exhibit,” explained Grossman.

“What became most appealing and interesting was their ambition, smarts and tenacity. For us, they went from just names to complex and fascinating individuals,” said Grossman, who has made more than 90 films on topics including the environment, the arts and education.

According to Grossman, her daughter, Abigail Arnold, was the first person to see the documentary’s potential.

“It all started with Abby. She’s always been obsessed with Broadway musicals. She was just a teenager when we did the film, but right away she said that the story would make a great musical.”

Arnold may have been the first but she wasn’t the only person to think the documentary would transfer well to the stage. Reisman recalled receiving an email from Robert Brustein, founder of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, saying he liked the film and suggesting that it could be adapted into a musical.

“The way I remember it is that we asked Brustein about turning the film into a musical because the idea had been planted in our heads by Abby,” said Grossman.

The longtime friends may have slightly different recollections of the musical’s nascent stage, but they’re both grateful for what followed.

“Brustein sent a DVD of the film to James Lapine (a three-time Tony Award-winning librettist), who passed it along to David Stone, one of the producers of ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ and ‘Wicked,’” explained Reisman, a panelist on NPR’s “Says You” since 1996 and former poet laureate of Martha’s Vineyard.

“In May 2010, we went to New York to meet with David Stone. He said, ‘I see Patti Lupone as Helena Rubinstein. If we can’t get her, however, I don’t think we can move forward.’ We would talk with him about twice a year after that and hear that all was going well,” said Grossman. “They kept our option, too, which was encouraging.”

More good news came when librettist Doug Wright, composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie – the trio who turned the documentary “Grey Gardens” into a Broadway musical – were brought onboard as the creative team. Lupone was soon signed to play Rubinstein. And in 2015, Ebersole, who won her second Tony Award for best leading actress in a musical for “Grey Gardens” in 2007, was cast in the Arden role.

Both performers are nominated for best leading actress in a musical at this year’s Tony Awards, which airs June 11, at 8 p.m. on CBS, for the show which is based not only on “The Powder & the Glory” but also on the 2003 book “War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein & Miss Elizabeth Arden – Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry” by Lindy Woodhead.

Grossman and Reisman were in the audience, along with Hillary Clinton, for the show’s star-studded April 6 Broadway opening, but on Sunday they’ll cheer on their Tony-nominated colleagues – including scenic designer David Korins and costume designer Catherine Zuber – from their respective homes. And, although both say filmmaking is in their past, maybe, just maybe, they'll be contemplating their next collaboration.

“This time, we’re going to find a musical and turn it into a documentary,” said Reisman with a laugh.